A New Era
by Pyro Bear
Summary: After the Battle of Alcatraz, young mutants no longer have to fear discrimination. When a new threat arises, so does a new group of heros to help protect those who have no protection
1. Howlett Twins

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters mention except for Jack and Ellie. They all belong to someone else. Any fault in characterization is my fault. I am not making any money off of this chapter and any chapter that follows.

Notes: Just to explain this now. Jean Grey, Scott Summers, and Professor X are all alive. I haven't explained how yet, but they are. Just believe it's like the comic books. I tried to stay as close to the movies as possible, though I'm closer to the novelization of _The Last Stand _than the actual movie. There are only two original characters at the moment, the rest are comic book characters. Constructive criticism always welcome.

* * *

They say Alcatraz Island was the dawn of a new era. Humans could no longer ignore the fact that mutants around for permanent. That didn't stop the segregation of the population, of course. The rise in abandoned mutant children led to both government and privately funded orphanages devoted solely to mutant children with no where else to go. 

Another school opened, this time in Boston, Massachusetts. The Massachusetts Academy of Tomorrow. That, along with Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters, was running at almost full capacity. Rumor was that another school would open, on the West Coast perhaps.

There soon grew to be a new division within the mutant community. It was no longer about the Cure or hiding from the general populace or how to fit into society. No, this split was a lot more dangerous. It was split that was happening to every young mutant in the country.

Those who were the first in their family versus those that parents or siblings to fall upon.

Those who grew up accepting who they were versus those who were afraid of themselves.

Those who knew where their place was in society versus those who had been abandoned.

Alcatraz was twenty years past, but a revolution was brewing. Everyone under the age of twenty knew that.

He could hear her pounding at his bedroom door. He chose to ignore it. Burrowing further into his blankets, he wondered if someone would call her off soon. The banging had stopped; thank God. Letting out a sigh of relief, he tried succumb to the blissful seduction of sleep. It was too early, damn it.

"Jackson!" Someone landed dangerously close to the crown jewels. "Time to wake up!"

"Ellen." His voice was muffled from his cocoon of blankets and pillows. "It is the last day of summer vacation. If it is not past noon, it's too early to be conscience. Go away and bother someone else."

"Its move in day though. We're supposed to help the newbies out." She tugged at his covers.

It was inevitable. She wouldn't leave him unless she was sure she had bothered him enough to cause him to get up. "I'm pretty sure we're not supposed to be calling them that," he remarked, rubbing sleep from his eyes.

The Howlett twins neither looked nothing like one another, unlike some fraternal twins, nor did act alike. He was, by nature, a bit reserved, even cautious at time. Built like a wrestler, he was short and brawny, like their father, with their mother's long wavy hair. There was some urging on their mother's part for him to cut it, but he liked long. Ellen, on the other hand, was the picture of a pixie. Petite and slender, her skin almost glowed with an inner light. Her hair was a mass of dark curls, almost as unruly as she was. They made a good pair though. While Ellen often went on the offensive, Jackson always had her back.

Their parents Marie and Logan Howlett couldn't have been more proud.

"Oh, go away, would you?" he snapped as he rose from his nice, warm, comfortable bed. "I have to get dressed."

His sister shot him a dirty look. "It's nothing I haven't seen before, Jack," she complained as she turned and left. By experience he knew she was waiting impatiently on the other side of the door for him. Jack quickly scrounged around for a shirt that not only looked clean, but smell halfway decent as well and a pair of jeans. His twin was once again banging on the door as he was pulled the pair of pants on.

"I don't know why you get so excited for this." He pulled the door open sharply. "It means the beginning of school." He pulled a face. Academic classes didn't start for another two weeks, allowing for the people within the mansion to grow accustomed with the routine. Some mutants would start heavy training, hoping to join the X-men once maturity hit. Others just wanted to be in control of their mutations. Other yet began counseling.

"I like meeting new people. Not everyone can be a social hermit like you."

"You're perky enough for the both of us, Ellie," he teased, throwing his arm over her bare shoulders. She smiled and the pair walked down the halls of the mansion together in relative silence. Summer was always slower in the Mansion. Many now left to go home. Those that stayed usually got to partake in their own devices. In the last few weeks of summer some of the younger mutants were organized and bussed up to a summer camp in Maine, leaving it even quieter than normal. Jack could feel it all slipping out of his grasp.

It was all going to be shattered by a bunch of ankle biters. He was ecstatic. He could hardly wait. He stepped to the side as soon as he saw the blurs round the corner. "Try not to run into anyone," he called, albeit a bit belated. Oh well, at least he said something list time. "How much do you want to bet the wonder duo hear about the donuts down in the parlor and filched some? Do you really want to go back to that?" He pouted.

Ellie laughed at her brother's antics. "Relax. You're not the one who has to run after the eight to ten year olds during orientation. I'm pretty sure Nate got volunteered for that one."

Jack winced. He wasn't sure whom he felt worse for: Nathaniel Summers or the children. Jean Grey and Scott Summers' eldest wasn't known for his patience. If the telepathic didn't leave the little troublemakers in suspended animation at least once in the next two weeks, he would eat his shoe, his left shoe. "What did he do to piss off his parents that much?"

His twin shrugged. "Who knows. Maybe he was being his stupid fifteen year old self?"

"Okay, so Miss All Knowing, so if I'm off I _keeping the little troublemakers in line_ /I duty, who am I supposed to lead around like a mama duck?"

"Eleven to fourteen. I'm pretty sure Siryn and Hellion are attached to that group as well, maybe even Wind Dancer as well."

"Great, not only do I have a bunch of trembling masses or hormones around me, I have to watch goo goo eyes all around." He snorted.

"Upset you don't get to play with your beloved Rachel?" It was a never-ending source of amusement to the people who knew about Wolverine and Jean Grey's past sexual tension that their children were carrying on their tradition.

"She's being pigheaded again," he grumbled, not answering his sister's question. "Said she wasn't some damsel in distress or something. Said that if I wanted to act like a knight in shining armor, I should look somewhere else, thank you very much, or some shit."

"Well, have you taken a look in the mirror lately?" Ellie poked him in the side, hard. "You practically scream that you belong in the universe of hobbits and elves and rangers."

"Does that mean you're destined for Neverland?" he retorted.

"Shut up and go check in." They had reached the front parlor.

"Okay, listen up you masses of overactive hormones." Jack liked to think he had the undivided attention of the twenty-five or so pre-teens. They had snagged the library for this little group talk, for which he was thankful. It would suck to be cooped up in one of the airless rooms. "Some of you are new, others are not," he continued. "I really don't care. This is what the adults like to call your orientation group. After these two weeks you probably won't have to talk to me ever again unless we go to a code orange or code red." He paused. It would probably be a bad idea to tell them that codes orange and red really happened about once every two months or so. "I'd go into the history of the school and all that bull, but you should have read it in the material given to you beforehand. Now, I'm tired of talking, Hellion is next."

The seventeen year old stepped back and looked at his group. He recognized a handful from his group last year, which made his life a little easier. A lot of the kids were new, with the onset of puberty, it was inevitable. That mean a lot of time would be spent in the lower levels of the mansion. Playing hide and seek in these walls has its advantages.

Hellion barked out the rules, reminiscent of his previous years at exclusive prep schools before coming to Xavier's. That suited Jack just fine. He never always liked the rules. Oh, he had a moral code, he was just not up to following 100 of the rules 100 of the time. Siryn took over to talk about classes—both electives and required. He continued to tune her Irish lilt out in favor to wonder what was going to be served for lunch. Pizza probably. They were still trying to impress the newbies. He also had to remember to tell his sister that she was wrong; Wind Dancer got the lucky job picking up lunch. He really hoped it was pizza.

He glanced at his watch. Syrin was winding down now. The next step was going to play follow the leader. He could hardly wait.

He watched his little ducklings get settled into their own little groups before grabbing his own food. Heading out onto the terrace, Jack settled on sitting on the wide railing. Surge, or as she preferred Nori, was already out there, her gauntlets shining in the sun. The two had a casual friendship. Whereas he had grown up in the mansion, she had only come in the last four years. She didn't talk about her past and he didn't pry. It was a pretty good system.

Although it wasn't a written rule, those that grew up under the influence of Xavier's and those that came after their powers manifested did not mingle together regularly. The two groups didn't hate one another, but they just had different experiences. Jack, along with his twin sister, grew up along side Nate (Cable) and Rachel Summers (Marvel Girl), and Talia (Nocturne). Others came as they grew up, Theresa (Syrin), Tabitha (Meltdown), Billy (Wiccan), Tom (Alchemy), Julian (Hellion), and Mark (DJ). They lived through the terror of the Sentinels together when Jack was twelve.

It was only after that the others began attending the school. Jay (Icarus) and Roberto (Sunspot) appeared the September after. Then Victor (Anole), Sarah (Network), Josh (Elixir), Nori (Surge), and Marie-Ange (Tarot) a year after. Finally two years ago Laurie (Wallflower) and Sofia (Wind Dancer) appeared. The twenty of them ranged in ages of fifteen to eighteen. They had common experiences such as defending themselves and some of the younger students against members of the Gene Nation as well as innumerable Danger Room sessions.

"How was your orientation session?" Ellie plopped down next to her brother.

He shrugged, taking another bite of pizza and chewing. "They should have gotten something out of it. They'll get a tour at one and then it's off to their rooms to fight between roommates." He offered her his discarded crusts.

"I'm with Talia this year. Did you change roommates?"

"Nah," he shook his head, "Mark and I get along. Why mess up a good thing?"

Ellie shook her head, her curls bouncing. Then she spotted Tabitha, Billy, and Tom leading a sleepy Talia out into the sun.

"It's too early," Talia complained as she sat on one of the conveniently placed chaise lounges. Leaning back, she closed her eyes. "There was a reason why I didn't show up for orientation today. Jetlag is a bitch." She threw a three-fingered hand over her eyes.

Ellie grinned at her blue skinned roommate. "Stop being so dramatic." The other girl just snorted in response, but didn't say anything.

"Anyone see Nate?" Billy asked, taking his own place at the end of the chaise lounge Talia was occupying. He spoke of one of his roommates, Tom being the other.

No one said anything for a moment. Nobody had seen either of the Summers siblings since the previous night, not even his roommates. He was already gone from his room when they got up, probably out for his customary run. The short silence was broken when the French doors that lead out to the terrace blew open. From inside Jack could see two figures levitating a few inches off the ground. When he saw the glowing eye of Nate, he knew the other figure must be Rachel. He glanced around. He saw Mark standing near Nori, headphones around his neck.

"DJ!" Jack called, using his roommate's codename. "Cover me! Force fields would be nice!" He didn't bother to look back because a few seconds late the pale gold of DJ's force field surrounded him. In the long rung it was a stupid idea to get between a fight between two telepathic-telekinetic mutants, but he knew the damage these two could do.

He could see the gold screen flicker for a moment before taking on a decidedly more blue hue. Wiccan had joined in. "Will you two stop!" Jack let his voice project. He looked around most kids were huddled against the walls. The youngest were shoved behind the elder ones. Jack felt a bubble of pride before turning his attention back to the battling siblings. Briefly he wondered what they were fighting about, but then he saw discarded silverware start to tremble from their haphazard places on the tables. Using his weak magnetic power, he exerted his will to force the objects to stay on the table, but the telekinetic power was too strong and the utensils started to rise. "Watch out!" He took a running leap and to tackle Rachel to the floor.

The first thing he noticed was that there was silence. It felt like he was suspended in motion. He was telling his arm to reach out and grab Rachel's arm, but it was moving by only the slightest bit. Flesh brushed flesh and everything went back to normal. The two mutants crashed to the ground. The fore field flickered for a moment before dispelling. Noise exploded all around them. Jack just relished the feeling of Rachel on top of him. As quick as it started, it ended.

"What the hell was that?" He green eyes were flashing and the phoenix sign over her left eye was bright. Her short red hair blew in its own wind. "I thought I told you that I was no fucking damsel in distress!"

He heard someone growl and it took him a moment before he realized that it was himself. "Will you watch it? I'm no fan of them, but there are kids around." He tone was low. "And it had nothing to do with you personally, you just happened to be closer." Sniffing, he turned around to go back outside and to his pizza. "If you're going to fight, take the sibling rivalry to the Danger Room, will you?

He went back out to the terrace and sat down. Grabbing a piece of pizza, he began to chew. It took him a moment to realize everyone was staring at him. "What?" he snapped as soon as he swallowed his mouthful.

No one said anything, which made him even more upset. Finally Ellie spoke up. "You usually don't get involved."

"Yeah, well, someone had to." His previous good mood had been shattered. "There were kids in there." He waved a hand to the kids that were milling around inside. Someone had finally alerted an adult to the goings on; Storm was yelling at both Rachel and Nate. Feeling a sense of satisfaction, Jack finished his pizza in silence, leaving his crusts for his sister.

Leaving his friends to gossip and talk amongst themselves, Jack made his way out onto the grounds. There were advantages, he supposed to growing up on Xavier's estate. Breaking into an easy jog, he headed towards the south east corner, near the edge of the forest. There the stables lay, in a squat little building with just enough room for the serious equestrians left at the mansion. Currently only his horse was housed, yet he could remember where there were upwards of ten. It surprised him when he saw the other horse. He nodded at the Appaloosa, in the first stall before heading to the last one, to his horse. A sorrel horse with a light mane and tail, he stood fifteen hands high. The horse snorted when he spotted Jack.

The teenager grinned, searching his pockets for sugar cubes. "How you doing, Blackjack?" he asked, dropping a few of the cubes into his horses feed bucket. The two had been together for over a decade. He had learned to ride on this horse. Leading the gelding out of the stall, Jack began to clean it out. He was putting down new hay when movement to the side caught his eye.

She stood near the Appaloosa's stall. He recognized her from his orientation group. She didn't look older than thirteen. As if she could feel him watching her, she turned. Her dark brown hair was pulled back into a French braid with blue eyes peeking out from under long bangs. "You're different than what I expected." Her voice was soft.

"What'd you expect?" He began to rub down Blackjack with a currycomb.

"Little robots?" Her lips quirked in a small smile, she was joking.

He shook his head. "You have a horse, you shovel the poop." He went back to combing his horse and they fell into silence. "How did you know where this place is?" The orientation tour was scheduled to take place right now, but he couldn't care less.

"I took a tour in the summer, when there were fewer people around. It was safer."

He looked at her, wracking his brain for his name. "Lily, right?" It then dawned on him exactly who she was. "Lily Pryde-Drake?"

Lily's smile faded. "Yeah, but you don't have to treat me any different. I'm like anyone else around here."

"_Except you're the daughter of the President," _Jack thought to himself. "Where are?" He left the rest of the question hanging in the air.

"Oh, you mean Johnny Gallo and Molly Hayes? They're around." She glanced up. Jack didn't bother, he was sure one, or both was sitting up in the rafters.

"So, um, what's your power?" He felt as awkward as he sounded.

"They call me Ghost Girl. I phase like my mom." There was a scowl on her face and she back to her Appaloosa. Jack got the hint and did the same.

He was leading Blackjack out when he paused. "Do you want to go out with me? Will they let you?" It was left unsaid who _they_ were. She nodded and followed him.

He started slow at first, unsure of her skill. He started at a slow walk before going to a trot, then a canter, before breaking out into a short gallop in a clearing. An hour later both horses were streaked with sweat. As the two riders began to wipe down the animals nothing was said. Lily finished first and with a shy good bye she left.

"You know, sugar, I believe someone may have a crush on you." Jack turned to see his mother sitting on the edge of an empty stall. Her hair was pulled back, with the naturally pristine white hair tucked behind her ears.

"Mama," Jack smiled ruefully. "She's in my orientation group. Since we were both skipping the tour, I thought it would be appropriate."

Rouge shook her head. "I heard what you did at lunch." Her hand rose to stroke his hair. "That's my boy, always thinking about others. Just like his father." Jack snorted at the thought. Though the Wolverine was known for his protectiveness of his family, not many people would say he placed himself above others.

"You know how the Rachel and Nate get." His mother shook her head and waited for her son to finish his chores before walking back the mansion with him. Briefly she wondered how he had gotten so mature. When Sage had been able to evolve her powers enough so that Rouge could touch others, it had been a godsend.

When she had found she was pregnant, she didn't know if life could get any better. With the birth of the twins, she had taken time off from the X-men. It wasn't until her babies were twelve when she realized that they truly were growing up. Before that, Rouge thought she could protect them from everything. The Sentinels changed all of that. When she took a step back now, she saw what her children had become, and she couldn't be prouder.

They were in the front hall of the mansion now. "Sugar, I have to get some lesson plans in order and track down your father. Try not and get involved in anything." She kissed his cheek and headed up the stairs.

He felt lost for a moment, unsure of what to do.

"Jack!" Ellie came from down the hall, from the direction of the Headmaster's office. "We need to talk!"


	2. Sprite

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters mention except for Jack and Ellie, and now Lily. They all belong to someone else. Any fault in characterization is my fault. I am not making any money off of this chapter and any chapter that follows.

Notes: Just to explain this now. Jean Grey, Scott Summers, and Professor X are all alive. I haven't explained how yet, but they are. Just believe it's like the comic books. I tried to stay as close to the movies as possible, though I'm closer to the novelization of _The Last Stand _than the actual movie. There are only two original characters at the moment, the rest are comic book characters. Constructive criticism always welcome. I'd like to thank my one reviewer and the some 89 odd people who read (or at least the site said read) the first chapter. I can only hope more of you review. Thanks.

Jack looked at his sister and opened his mouth, only to close it when no sound came out. He opened it, but once again nothing came out. He finally settled on a strangled "What?" His sister was looking about the hall as if someone was just waiting to eavesdrop. If she kept that behavior up, someone would think they were up to something.

"I think you need to call Excalibur together." Her voice was hushed. "Now."

He managed another "What?" before continuing with, "You know that was just an imaginary thing we had going for us when we were kids, right?" It had evolved from a game when there had just been the two of them and the Summers kids, pretending to be their parents, to a secret club just after the Sentinels. Now, in his last year as a student at Xavier's school, the idea of Excalibur sounded stupid.

"Look, it's something important, alright. Something the X-men might not be able to handle."

A look of annoyance crossed over his face. "Well, if the X-men can't handle it, how the hell can we?" He pushed past her. "If it's really that important, we'll talk after dinner, okay?" Taking a sharp left, Jack felt the wall for the correct panel. Finally the elevator door opened and he descended to the lower three levels of the school.

Jack punched in his PIN into the computer, allowing him to look through at his Danger Room profile. So far he was ahead on his wins compared to his loses. Scanning the list of available situations, he chose one of the lowest ones. He pulled on his bright indigo and yellow training uniform before stretching. He then entered the training room.

The objective was to rescue kidnapped children while avoiding the booby traps. It was simple enough that Jack would not be using any items from his collection of weapons; instead he would be using only his natural mutations, which included enhanced sight, smell, and hearing as well as an accelerated healing factor. He felt the air around him thicken and begin to swirl with dust. The simulation had begun. He heard the rumble of the giant rock ball beginning its descent. Obviously someone had been watching Indiana Jones before designing the simulation. He out ran the boulder like he had when he was fifteen and began to press on once more. He did the jumping and running and sniffing to find his objective. All he had to do was smell the stink of teenage bodies that had yet to realize that they smelled and that soap was their friend. There were four of them, a group small so not to be overrun with charges to look after, but enough to be unwieldy in tight spaces.

"Listen up!" He told the simulated children, trying to make his voice gruff, like his father's. "I'm going to get you guys out of here. No powers, that's needless attention. Got it? Stay silent and follow me." He led them out of cell he had broken into and the small group was on their way through the booby-trapped hall. Jack had already dismantled most of the traps, so he moved quickly and confidently. They were almost near the large glowing exit sign that ended this particular training exercise when his legs were kicked out from under him. "Run!" he called to the kids. The simulation would still be considered a success if the objective, rescuing the kids, was met.

He tried to fall correctly, like he was taught, but his breath was still knocked out him. His brain went haywire for a moment. There was not supposed to be any mutant-mutant interactions besides the rescuing. Where had this person come from? He struggled to stand, to face his attacker, but was knocked down again.

"No, don't get up, bub." The end of a cigar fell to Jack's left. A cold metal blade pressed into the base of Jack's skull hard enough to hurt. "Not too smart to go off on your own on rescue missions. You could get hurt."

"_You could get hurt if mom knew you were smoking around me,"_ he was tempted to say, but Jack held his tongue. It was not time to tease. Jack knew he could not beat his father in a physical fight; age and skill would prevail. If he could just knock the cigar out of his father's mouth, it would make his day.

Something grabbed the back of his training uniform, lifting him up. He heard the adimantium claw rip through the material. He winced, yet another uniform destroyed. By his estimates, Jack would have only one chance to land a punch. It would hurt like hell, thanks to an adimantium infused skeleton, but it would be worth it.

Jack was right. The Wolverine's head did not snap back, even with his son's full force punch, but it was enough to make the older man's jaw drop a little in surprise, just enough for the cigar to drop out, that his son had hit him. The image was ruined as Jack stood there, shaking out is hand and cursing, trying to figure out if anything was broken.

"Simulation over," the Danger Room's prerecorded voiced intoned. Everything dissolved around them. Yet another success to go on Jack's record.

"Not the brightest thing to do, training by yourself." His father was not a man of many words, but Logan James Howlett was blunt and sincere.

Jack had stopped cursing, though he was gritting his teeth in pain he would want to ice his hand later, lest it swell. "Needed to work off some steam. I was almost finished when you showed up."

"Teaches you to expect the unexpected." Taking out another cigar, his father lit it and walked out of the Danger room.

Feeling a bit foolish, Jack went to go shower and change.

He returned to his room refreshed. The school was just beginning to buzz with the return of friends and the forging of new friendships. His roommate's stuff had appeared in their shared room while Jack was out, but Mark was nowhere to be found. That suited him just fine. It allowed him to settle down a bit and unwind. Students were not allowed televisions in their rooms, at least ones with a cable box, but said nothing about watching DVD's or videogames. So taking full advantage of the loophole, he popped in Animal House, in the mood for some lighthearted comedy. He would have preferred to watch the movie on the large screen television downstairs, but then he would have to deal with people bothering him and the annoying rule that banned R-rated movies where young eyes could catch sight of a boob or whatever.

He heard the door open, but paid no attention to it. Mark probably needed something before having to rush out again.

"Jack."

It was his sister. Jumping at her unexpected voice, he looked up. "When did you get here?"

She rolled her eyes. "I knocked and knocked. Nobody answered. I let myself it. You then ignored me." She glared at him for a moment before noticing the movie. "Ooh, is that Animal House?"

He paused the DVD. "What did you want?"

"You didn't show up for dinner, so I was worried." He gave her a disbelieving look. "Okay, okay, fine. It was because I wanted to talk to you about what we talked about before."

"What did we talk about?"

"You know, what I heard this afternoon?" She plopped down on his bed.

"You eavesdropped, and you're terrible at that, I might add. You probably didn't hear everything." He dismissed her claims. "If there is some type of threat, we'll be told what to do. All you need to do is keep your nose to the grindstone and work hard."

She scowled at him. "That's all we ever do. We have some vague plan to evacuate the building, but how the hell is that going to help? I'm not going to run away and hide from the big bad monster. We already did that."

"Do you think you were the only one with nightmares?" he spat. "Nate was only ten, and he wasn't even the youngest." Jack tried to soften his voice. "Look, I understand you want to do something. Sitting around is never any fun and can be frustrating. Why don't you ask someone if you can do something." He tried to compromise with her.

She shot him another dark look. "They would just smile at me patronizingly, pat me on the head, and tell me not to work. We have to do something, even if it has to be done in secret."

He resisted the urge to laugh in her face. That would just make her more upset, and that was the last thing he needed. "Ellen, this isn't some fantasy book thing, it's real life. You aren't Hermione Granger and I'm certainly not Harry Potter. There is no reason for a secret club. If you want to hone your powers, schedule some Danger Room sessions or something. And Dad certainly won't pat you on the head."

His twin stood up angrily. "That's all you think about, more practice, practice, practice." She spat the word _practice_. "But guess what, strength doesn't always win, dumbass." Huffing, she marched out of the room, leaving him alone with John Belushi dressed in a bed sheet. Even the Delta's toga party couldn't distract him.

The Sentinel incident when he was twelve was when his childhood truly ended. There had been times when he and the others had been sent down to the Safe Room, located in the lowest level of the mansion, to wait out whatever the current threat. When he was twelve that was not the way it happened. The attack had occurred in the middle of the night, much like General Stryker had done years before. The X-Men had been over extended and had not been able to organize all the young students into safety. There had been no time to think.

Five of them ran outside together: himself, Ellie, Rachel, Nate, and Talia. Older children, those who had not grown at Xavier's school, had run in other directions. They had run into the woods, trusting no one. They had grown up on the stories of Mystique and Magneto.

He remembered the cold the most. Frost had still covered the ground. Rocks and fallen sticks had cut his feet, but he had not cried out. He was the oldest of the five of them, even Ellie (by ten minutes), and he had to be strong—for them. He had led them into a hallow he had played in three years before, when he was much younger. In the small cave there had been clothes that he had stashed there from when he had tried to run away a couple months before. Although not warm by any standard, the clothes were a marked improvement from the flimsy nightclothes, especially for the girls.

They had waited in the cave, barely breathing, too afraid of what was out there, remembering what had happened less than an hour before. It had happened so fast. People were screaming and things could be heard breaking. The earth had shook and there was no time to think. Then, as they sat there in the dark, huddled together trying to keep warm, they had begun to question themselves. Were they the only survivors? What if everyone else thought they were dead? Talia had begun to cry silently, wanting for her Papa; she wasn't even ten years old.

Then the earth began to shake again. The huddle of children had pressed their backs further into the wall of the cave they had taken shelter in. The two enormous floodlights had peered into the cave feeling like two suns pounding down on them. The light had blinded the children at first.

Jack had scrambled forward, intent on protecting the others, but instead found that he was being drawn towards it. He tried to get away, but he couldn't. He just kept being pulled forward. His sister had screamed at him to come back. He hadn't wanted to scare the other ones. So he continued moving forward, not telling the other four that he couldn't stop moving toward the machine and away from safety. He could smell the hot air and felt the bright lights being down on his skin. As he faced the mechanical beast, he had recognized it as a Sentinel. Images of them had been floating around on the internet. Jack had been reminded of the New York Subway System, the thing smelled like it at least.

As the floodlight eyes bared down on him, the twelve-year-old Jack felt suddenly clearheaded. Ellie's screams had faded away, leaving only the Sentinel and him. He had closed his eyes by then, the lights were blinding him. He felt the escape of air as the giant machine opened its jaws. Jack remembered being afraid that it was going to eat him.

When he expected pain, there was something else. He could feel someone coming. Although Jack had not been able to see, he could smell and hear the person. Not only that, he had felt the wind move; however Jack had felt something sing within him for the first time. It scared him and comforted him all in the same moment.

One primal growl later and Jack found that he could move of his own free will once more. He had stayed in place however. It might have been fear, but when Jack thought back on it, he told himself he had not moved because he had not wanted to lose that feeling of singing. So he had stayed frozen in place though the two floodlight eyes had no longer been trained on him. Then the light was gone, replaced by a shower of sparks and bits of metal that had hit and stung Jack's body, breaking whatever the connection he had to the strange new feeling. He had cried out then, finally feeling the pain, that had previously been masked by whatever he had been feeling.

"Hey, buddy, you okay?" His father's voice had been the last thing Jack heard before losing conciousness.

The nightmares started the night after.

Ellie had begun to burst into flames in the middle of the night, following the incident. Afterwards she had begun refusing to sleep. That had lasted months; their parents finally had resort to giving her tranquilizers. Late she was diagnosed with insomnia, which still affected her today. It was normal for her only to sleep one or two hours a night.

Talia had taken to climbing anything and everything. She thought the higher she was, the harder it would be hurt her. Nightcrawler's ability to climb walls had been proved useful more than once. Even today Talia would retreat to great heights whenever she felt threatened. She had also become quite a deadly force from above, using her heightened agility.

Nate had become even more aggressive than what was normal for a ten-year-old boy. He got into fights frequently: with his peers, sister, and parents. He also began to tinker around with anything mechanical. Often he would take whatever he could get his hands on apart and putting it back together again. Most often his tinkering had led to negative results. Many locks had to be changed once it was found that he had picked a vast number of them.

Rachel on the other hand neither did nor said anything. In fact, she had been almost catatonic, sitting in her room, looking out the window. She would not eat nor sleep. Finally, as a last resort, her mother, Doctor Jean Grey-Summers, had put her under a healing coma.

Jack shook his head. Today just was not his day. First an overactive Ellie woke him up, then he broke up a fight between Rachel and Nate, afterwards he probably sprained his hand, and finally almost got pulled into some elaborate fantasy cooked up by his sister, twice. He was really batting a thousand.

The movie was still playing. He had hit play button again. He hadn't paid attention though, thinking about the Sentinel attack, and lost the plot. He had no interest in the DVD now. Once more he began to feel restless and thought about going outside. He would not ride for a second time, though. There was no reason to bother Blackjack because of his own problems. Shrugging, he decided to leave his stuffy room.

As Jack made his way out onto the grounds, a few people stopped him, including his mother. She had also noticed his absence from dinner and pressed him to get a bite to eat. He slapped together a bologna sandwich and took it out on the terrace. With his sandwich in one hand, Jack used the other to pull a lounge chair into the corner, away from the windows and doors.

Biting into his sandwich, he remembered when his mother used to make these for him. Bologna sandwiches had always been his favorite. They also had always tasted better when she made them; he wondered what her secret was. Closing his eyes, he relished the silence that dusk provided. It would be his last year as an official student at the mansion—he would complete the college prep program after the spring semester.

College prep, now that was a scary phrase. Honestly, he hadn't thought much past his last semester of high school or after. He had always thought he would become a member of the X-Men eventually. Now he was toying with the idea that he would go away for school. He had never really been away from home before. Sure, he had gone to summer camp, but that hardly counted. The more he thought of it, the better it sounded to go somewhere far away where nobody knew his parents. To be unknown, invisible to everyone.

"You know, being invisible isn't as cracked up as it sounds." Jack opened his eyes to find Lily standing at his feet. He moved over so she could sit down. "Don't worry, I wasn't reading your mind. You just had the same expression my mother gets when everyone is asking her a bunch of stupid questions and she can't take it anymore. Like she wants to just disappear." The younger teenager gave Jack a small, sad smile. "Sometimes it's hard to be a Ghost Girl."

"Why do you go by that if you hate it so much?"

"I don't really. It just came from the codename the Secret Service gave me. My mom is Eagle. My dad has to go by Penguin." They both shared a smile. "My older brother, Rob, is Specs. My younger one, Morgan, is Tonka."

"You know, you don't have to go by the name given to you. Tabitha went through almost half a dozen codenames before settling on Meltdown." Even after he said this, she still looked unsure. "Look, I'm guessing your powers are a lot like my mom's. That's a lot like me. My powers are like my father's, and I'm always living in his shadow. I know I can't out run him or win a hand-to-hand fight, but there are other things I can do. I can ride a horse. I can shoot a bow and arrow. I can do some fancy fencing. We're at a school not just to learn how to control our powers, but to push our boundaries. You have tons of teachers here to learn from. You just have to try."

"I can do one thing," Lily stood up. "Do you want to see?" At his nod, she grabbed his hand and led him down to the fountain. Stepping into the water, she seemed to shimmer for a second before disappearing for a second before appearing on the other side, completely dry. "I learned that from my dad."

Jack smiled. "See? You now have a wealth of knowledge at your disposal. Just think of what you can do. But you're more than ghost, you're a sprite."

The thirteen-year-old girl smiled back at him. "Thank you, Jack. You've been a bigger help than you think. I'll be sad when you go away at the end of the year." Leaving him to mull over the thought, she took off running, shimmering from sight.

The wind suddenly felt cold on his bare arms. Shivering slightly, Jack made his way back inside the mansion.


	3. Burnout

Disclaimer: I don't own any of this. It belongs to Marvel et al. I'm not making money off of this. I own the characters Ellie and Jack Howlett and to some extent Lily Drake-Pryde and Brenton Allerdyce.

Notes: I can only assume people are reading this, with 172 hits and all. That's great. That's like 90 more hits for chapter two. I only wish I could get more reviews. Even if it's just saying something along the lines of "Good job, can't wait for the next chapter or something." It takes like two seconds. Please. I will now stop my begging. Sorry for the delay in chapters, I try to get them up within two weeks, but that doesn't always work.

* * *

The morning dawned bright and early, causing both Mark and Jack to curse and grumble. Jack's hand had a nice bruise developing on his right hand, but there was no swelling thanks to the ice bucket he had procured last night before returning to his room. 

"I'm off to registration," Mark said before leaving their shared room. "Not all of us have the option of being earlier birds. Remember to lock the door on your way out!" Right before returning to school Mark had purchased some music expensive equipment and as a result he was now paranoid about someone stealing it.

Jack nodded and tried to remember what was on the orientation schedule. None of the kids in his orientation group had to register for any classes like older students had do. They had to do the basics: math, science, English, and social studies. Then he remembered about foreign language. A student at Xavier's had the choice of Spanish, French, or German. He had chosen to take German. He was pretty sure most had already chosen a language, but it wouldn't hurt to double-check. Jack knew his group of kids had a Danger Room session scheduled from ten to noon. Hopefully that was enough time to explain it and have them try it themselves.

Or he could just leave the testing to the adults, but he was certain he had more patience than his father. In the twenty odd years since joining the X-Men, the Wolverine had mellowed just a bit. He could tolerate ignorance now and then, mainly because ignorance could be fixed. Stupid was what the man couldn't stand. You just can't fix stupid, and Jack had done some pretty stupid things in the past couple years. Needlessly to say, father and son hadn't gotten along very well for three years or so. Things still got pretty strained now and then.

All that thinking made Jack's brain hurt. He was hungry and if he wasted any more time, he was liable to miss out on breakfast. Many mutants in the school tended to eat a lot, himself included. Taking just enough time to brush his teeth and pull on some clothes that didn't smell, he was out the door, keys in his hand. He made sure to lock the door.

Breakfast was more subdued than lunch had been the previous day. Everyone was probably still half asleep. Piling his plate high with French toast, bacon, and sausage, Jack steered clear of the eggs. They always had a tendency to taste rubbery when mass cooked. "_Herr_ Wagner." He nodded to Talia's father, as well as his German teacher, who was on breakfast babysitting duty. He then went on to look for a place to sit.

Seeing none of his friends, Jack chose a table in the back corner, near the windows. He was cutting into his second slice of toast when somebody sat down across from him. Jack flicked his eyes up; it was Jay Guthrie. The two of them said nothing, which was normal. Both would have been considered loners if either of them had attended a normal school, but since neither of them did, it was just accepted as a personality quirk and people talked to them anyway.

Jay spoke first. "Ellie came to talk to me last night. You know, she has the right idea."

"Of course she talked to you." Jack pierced a piece of French toast with his fork. "Geeze, she's a dreamer. I at least thought you might have a practical bone in your body. Then you might understand how crazy she's being."

Jay's red wings twitched. They were free of any restraint, including a shirt. Most of his clothes had been modified around his wings. "I am being practical, you know. There are only so many X-Men. If there were to be a threat, they will be on the front lines. We just have to be prepared to be the back up. We have to expect the unexpected.

_Expect the unexpected_ echoed through Jack's brain. His father had used the expression last night after surprising him in the Danger Room. "Fine, we are expecting it. Now what are we going to do about it?" He used his fork to stab at a piece of breakfast sausage.

"The school has got a history of being attacked." That wasn't a question. "Lets start there. How many times?"

"Seriously attacked? Twice. Once before I was born and the second time was when I was twelve. Both times we were overrun. All the other times kids have been sent down to the Safe Room."

"Kids need to know how defend themselves," Jay pointed out.

"Best defense is a good offense. They will learn how to use their powers during the next couple of years, without our help."

"Yeah, but they _also_ need to know when to run. They got to know all the secrets of the mansion."

"I don't know _all_ the secrets. Only the Professor does. Sure, there are definitely secret stairs and passageways, but all I need to do is get in trouble because some little punk ass bag of overactive hormones thought it would be fun to play some prank or try their hand at getting in some girl's pants."

"So tell them not to."

"Did you always listen when somebody told you not to do something?" Jack looked down at his plate only to see that he had run out of sausage to stab with his fork.

"Didn't you?"

"No. When I was thirteen…"Jack trailed off. _I was acting out because I felt weak and unable to defend myself,_ he thought. "I went through some tough shit"

"So why don' you stop them from going though some tough shit. I'm not talking about being on the front lines. Hell, there are enough of the Guthrie kids out there already. At least on us had to live to go home to mom and dad. But we got to defend ourselves."

Jack hated to admit it, but Jay was making some sense. "Look, we just got to realize that by doing this ourselves, without some type of adult oversight, we are liable to get burned out or shut down or both. Ellie doesn't seem to realize she's not Hermione Granger and I'm not going to pretend I'm Harry Potter."

"Who says you're Harry Potter?" Jay smirked.

"You're too tall and have the wrong hair color."

Jack shifted in his chair, trying to get into a comfortable position. He could be doing a number of things at the moment. He could be watching a movie. He could be sleeping. He could be arguing over some insignificant thing with Rachel. He could be doing a number of things, yet here he was, stuck in the observation deck of the Danger Room. The only consolation was that Julian and Theresa were stuck along with him, thought those two were too busy watching one another than to watch what was going on below.

Although he tried not to look for her, Jack's eyes were drawn towards Lily. She stood poised and attentive, as is she were on national television. For being a new student, she certainly had enough control over her abilities. He wondered if her mother had taught her anything before sending Lily to Xavier's.

Katharine Pryde-Drake, the 50th president of the United States of America, had been the first mutant, or at least the first pubic mutant, elected to the office. She ran on a platform of change and equality. In the first one hundred days in office she had outlawed the use of Sentinels in all forms and limited the use of Cure to those over age eighteen. She was one of the more famous students to graduate from Xavier's. Jack remembered when she had campaigned around the country and stopped for the afternoon at the school. He had been quite taken with the dark haired politician.

Shaking his head to clear his thoughts, Jack continued to look through the small crowd of adolescent mutants. Standing near Lily was a boy. New this year, like most of his peers, Jack couldn't remember his name. He knew it started with a _B_, but beyond that, he was lost. The boy's hair was shaggy, like he hadn't cut it in months.

Storm began to call out names. Jack, like the teenagers below him, turned his attention towards the white haired woman. "Allerdyce, Brenton." As soon as she said the boy's name, whispers began to break out. John Allerdyce, better known as Pyro, was one of the more infamous products of Xavier's.

The shaggy haired boy shot a dirty look at the group of his peers. "What are you all yabbering about?" His voice had an Australian accent. Turning his attention back to the group of adults, Brenton waited for instructions. They were simple: _show us what you can do._ The boy produced a battered Zippo lighter, flipping it open. A small flame was produced. It flickered orange for a moment before slowly turning a light blue color. The windows to the observation deck began to fog over. Jack had to wipe the condensation away only to see the boy floating a few inches off the ground.

"What do you call yourself?" The gruff question had come from Jack's father.

The boy smirked. "Burnout."

Storm called the next name and Brenton allowed himself to fade into the background. Very few of the kids had any degree of control of their powers, allowing for only small glimpses to their true potential. However, something told Jack that quite a few of the young kids standing in the Danger Room would be at least a class three mutant. He saw Lily show off, unlike the rest of the young teens, she controlled her powers remarkably well. He supposed that was out of necessity, a matter of national security. You just couldn't have a teenage girl phase through the floors of the White House into the Situation Room. Jack watched enough television to know that would be very bad indeed.

"Most people would think you're being all kinds of stalker by the way you look at her." Rachel's voice whispered into his ear.

To his credit, Jack didn't jump at her voice. "I was just being friendly. Not everyone can grow up here. I thought it would put her at ease."

She smirked, pushing some of her shoulder length red hair behind one of her ears. "Sure you are. Just remember, there's like four years between you and her. It's one thing if you are in your thirties and dating someone four years older than yourself. It's another to be thirteen."

"Are you jealous?" Jack snapped.

The two of them had an on again, off again relationship. Everything they did together was fueled with passion be it loving, fighting or competing. The passion was the cause of the unsteady relationship. Rachel was fiercely independent, which clashed with Jack's need to see that everyone he loved was safe. Their first break up, complete with her throwing things out onto the front lawn from the second story, was almost as well known as the time they had been caught making out in four different closets in one afternoon, by four different people.

"Jealous, of her? She's like eight, and has no boobs."

When Rachel brought up the size of her chest compared to others, Jack knew it was time to quit. "So what do you think of this new scheme my sister has thought up." He changed the subject.

"I'm afraid I really don't understand it." She pulled an extra chair over and began to watch the younger mutants. The current one being tested, both older teens had missed her name, had sparks of blue electricity jumping across her skin. "What do you make of it?" Rachel wanted to know.

Jack shrugged. "There are about thirty kids down there. There are three orientation leaders: Julian, Theresa, and myself. I suppose we'll be split into something like squads. I'll train with them once a week or so. That way if anything should go wrong, I know the strengths and weaknesses."

"That's great if the kids powers have manifested enough to actively train them. What about the younger kids? Some are just coming to grips that they are mutants."

"They'll learn to run. If no other option is available, they have to use the only weapon available, their fists."

"Great, we're creating an army of mutant mini-soldiers. I'm sure the public would love that. I can see the headline now. Mutie Private School Starts Child Army."

"Not catchy enough." Jack shrugged again. "I didn't organize this whole thing. But it has to be a good idea, right? You and I were lucky. We grew up knowing this place. Nobody needed to give us directions on how to act. None of these kids have that. The least thing we could is return them to their parents in one piece."

Rachel let a smirk play across her lips. "Have you thought about what you're going to do next year?" She already had her heart set on going to Yale, like her mother. She doubted she would go into medicine though; law looked interesting, as did theater.

He shook his head. His mother had gone to New York University and had received two degrees in psychology. His sister already had her heart set on their mother's _alma mater_; Ellie wanted to study political science. Jack felt he was lost somewhere in the shuffle, like he had been left behind. "Not a clue."

"You should teach or something, because, like, you honestly care."

They fell into a silence that was not quite comfortable, but not quite awkward either. "Look, um, this thing kind of ends right around lunch, I was wondering if you would like to go into town with me and catch a movie at the mall or something, maybe get a bite to eat. All on me off course." Captain Smooth he was not.

Rachel smiled. "Yeah, I'd like that." She sat back and they continued to watch the group below them.

Jack ran a hand through his shaggy hair after parking his father's car back in the garage where he had found it. He and Rachel had been gone longer than either had expected. They had caught a move and then went out to get something to eat, being quite after lunch and way before dinner. That had led to the arcade where they had blown a lot of money being stupid teenagers. It was only after Jack's father had left him an angry message to _get their asses back to the mansion_ and to make sure _the car had a full take of gas_ did they realize how much time had gone by. Jack really had no money now—it had all gone to movies, food, arcade games, and gas.

"I'll see you later." Rachel smiled at him and went upstairs to her room.

Jack nodded and made his way to the kitchen if there was any food left over from dinner. He was hungry again and he had neither the time nor the money to grab a slice of pizza before leaving the mall. "Laura!" he cried in surprise, seeing his older sister sitting on the kitchen island eating an apple. It was skewered on one of her claws. It was a habit she had picked up from their father, once his mother was trying to break the both of them out of.

She really wasn't his sister. She was a clone of the Wolverine, sharing over 90 of her DNA with him. She had been an experiment, number twenty-three the first success. She had broken free of her captors around her fourteenth birthday. The X-Men had found her two years later, living on the streets. She had been sixteen; Jack had been thirteen.

He went to go hug her, but she pushed him away. "You smell like grease, sweaty teenage boys, and dirt. Don't touch."

Jack grinned. For all of her accelerated healing, Laura was still germ phobic. He liked knowing that, it made her more human. "So how long are you here for?" He loved it when she stayed at the mansion.

"As long as the others want. Then it's off to save the world again." She was part of the newest X-Men team. Originally she had gone by the name scientists had given her, X-23, but in the past year she had changed it to Nyx.

Smiling again, Jack began to rummage through the fridge. It only took a moment before he found what he was looking for, chicken. Sitting down to wait for it to warm in the microwave, he turned to his sister. "So how goes life?"

She raised an eyebrow. Laura was never one for small talk. It was another trait inherited from the Wolverine. "Rumor has it that you've taken a shine to Shadowcat and Iceman's daughter."

Jack made a face. "I don't know why people have their minds in the gutter. She likes to ride horse. I'm just being nice."

His sister's eyebrow went higher, if that was possible. "I just said people had told me you had taken a shine to the girl, not that you wanted to get into her panties." Tossing her apple core into the garbage can, she turned to go. "Who had the dirty mind now?" She left him with his leftovers.

He ate his makeshift dinner quickly, strangely uncomfortable with the quiet offered by the deserted kitchen. Not knowing what to do, Jack headed up to his room. That's where he usually ended up most nights anyway. If someone wanted him, his bedroom would probably be the first place he or she would look.

Finding his door unlocked made Jack feel a little bit better. If Mark was in the room, then Jack felt that he was not being as anti-social as he thought. When he opened his door there were at least fifteen people stuffed in his room. Jack didn't think it was possible to fit that many people in a doubles. Ellie and her boyfriend, Jay, occupied his bed. Nate, Billy and Tom sat on the floor near the two closets. Roberto had taken one of the computer chairs, Julian the other. Theresa and Tabitha sat on the windowsill. Talia, Sarah, Marie-Ange, Laurie, and Sofia had taken over Mark's bed, leaving Victor, Nori, and Mark on the floor.

"What the hell are you all doing?" Jack knocked Jay's feet out of the way before sitting down. "Stop trying to have sex with your clothes on, on _my_ bed." He shot his sister and her boyfriend a dirty look.

"We're playing Trivial Pursuit," Laurie offered helpfully. "Well, we were, but we just kind of ended up asking each other questions."

"Out next question is for Tabitha." Sofia withdrew a car from the deck with a flourish. "In the movie, what lubricating product was slathered on the orc's prosthetic skin so they'd look shiny and sweaty?"

"Ooh, I know this one," Julian leered.

"If course you do, now shut up," Nori said from the floor.

"Wait, wait, wait. What version of Trivial Pursuit are you all playing? Dirty Minds 101?" Jack asked from his place on the bed.

"No, Lord of the Rings, why?" Sofia asked as she played with the card in her hand.

"Well then I'm out. Not enough females. There is only so much I can take before dirty males start to distract me, and I don't care how pretty Elijah Wood is. And Boromir? That guy just did not die; my god, what kind of cheat code does that man have?" Jack shook his head.

"Sofia," Tabitha said from the windowsill, "I have no clue. What's the answer?"

"KY jelly," the teenage mutant answered. The room erupted into laughter. It just descended into chaos from there.

Marie watched her husband lounge across their bed. It had once been big enough to fit their whole family, but her babies were growing up, leaving their parents behind. "Marie," her husband's voice broke through her thoughts, "come to bed."

She loved how he said her name. Marie. Rogue. Darlin'. Even after all these years he still called her Kid. Bub, if he was pissed off at her. All of those names were for her. They had touched her heart when no one could touch her skin. She hadn't lied to him all those years ago when he had stopped her to ask if she was getting the Cure for some boy. No, she had been willing to take it for the man who had stood before her. Bobby hadn't needed her to get the Cure, but at that point, they had been holding onto something that had died long before, when John, Pyro, had joined the Brotherhood. She and Bobby had parted on good terms. He had his fairytale ending, she had seen to that. Yet, she had been left alone. Where once she had been isolated by her mutation, she then had been isolated by her choice. Logan stood by her, even when the so-called Cure had failed to do its job. Her powers had mutated even further, allowing her to call on the powers she had permanently absorbed.

"Come to bed, Darlin'," her husband related. He loved the way she looked. He loved the feel of her soft skin under the worn cotton of one of his old shirts. After years of needing to cover up her skin, she still did. Old habits died hard.

"Do you ever regret—?" his wife stated to stay as she settled into his arms.

"I don't regret anything," he cut her off. "Even a giving a moody stowaway a lift outside Laughlin City."

Marie smiled at the memory. "Not even that I can't give you more children?"

He kissed her temple. "You gave me enough, Kid. It just got too dangerous for you." Pregnancy had effected both of them. After years of several miscarriages and even on stillbirth, the couple had thought they would never have children. Then Marie found body parts bursting into flames and the ability to lift heavy objects without visible strain. After a consultation with Doctor Jean Grey, it was discovered that not only was she pregnant with the twin, but her mutation was interacting with her children's' powers. It took great concentration and some help from the professor to stop her powers from attacking the twins inside her. It had taken so much of her strength, she was put in a medically induced coma at seven moths and two weeks later her children were delivered by caesarian section. "I always thought I would be the traveling man, never have roots anywhere."

"I don't tie you down?"

"Never. You gave me something to live for. I had to come back for that."

"You came back for your dog tags," she teased gently. "I always had them with me, waiting for you to come back." They sat in silence for a few minutes, comfortable enough with one another to enjoy it. "Do you remember when we could all fit onto this bed? Jack and Ellie would crawl up and wedge themselves between us."

Logan chuckled. "Yeah, nothing like reaching for your wife, only to have a handful of dirty foot."

Marie giggled at the image. "Ellie was so delicate, it's a surprise she didn't break more bones."

"Once was enough, thank you. Just be happy it was because she fell out of a tree."

"And Jack, with his feet and ears sizes to big, like a puppy. He was always tripping over himself."

"His ears are a bit big now, come to think of it. Do you think that's why he keeps his hair long?" Logan grinned.

Marie hit her husband lightly on the arm. "Be nice."

"Aren't I always?"

"No."


End file.
